Deep Dive: Here are the best Dow and S&P stocks so far in 2019

Memories of a brutal fourth-quarter haven’t been erased, but investors are breathing a sigh of relief with a reversal in the direction of stocks so far this year.

In fact, U.S. stocks have gotten off to their best start in 13 years.

The broad indexes pulled back slightly to close out the week. But through Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.02% is up 2.9%, after dropping 11.8% during the fourth quarter and declining 5.6% for all of 2018.

The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.01% has risen 3.6% so far in January, following a 14% plunge in the fourth quarter and a decline of 6.2% for 2018. The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.21% is up 5.1% so far this year, after taking a 17.5% beating during the fourth quarter and falling a relatively modest 3.9% for all of 2018.

Fourth-quarter earnings season begins in earnest on Monday with Citigroup reporting, and results may well serve as a distraction from all the market jitters over Federal Reserve policy, trade conflict with China and the partial federal government shutdown.

Read: Money flows show Netflix, AMD and Amazon shares may rocket on good news

The biggest winners of a young 2019:

Here are the top 10 performers so far this year among the S&P 500:

Company

Ticker

Price change – 2019

Price change – Q4, 2018

Price change – 2018

Price change – 2017

Decline from 52-week high

Celgene Corp.

CELG, +0.52%

36.4%

-28.4%

-38.6%

-9.8%

-18.5%

Hess Corp.

HES, -1.31%

26.6%

-43.4%

-14.7%

-23.8%

-31.5%

Netflix Inc.

NFLX, +3.98%

26.1%

-28.5%

39.4%

55.1%

-20.2%

Nektar Therapeutics

NKTR, -1.11%

24.8%

-46.1%

-45.0%

386.7%

-63.2%

Mattel Inc.

MAT, +2.94%

22.6%

-36.4%

-35.0%

-44.2%

-35.1%

Newfield Exploration Co.

NFX, +1.27%

19.8%

-49.2%

-53.5%

-22.1%

-50.0%

Lennar Corp. Class A

LEN, +2.75%

18.5%

-16.1%

-38.1%

47.3%

-35.7%

Apache Corp.

APA, +0.45%

18.5%

-44.9%

-37.8%

-33.5%

-37.8%

Noble Energy Inc.

NBL, -0.80%

18.3%

-39.9%

-35.6%

-23.4%

-41.2%

General Electric Co.

GE, +0.00%

18.1%

-32.9%

-56.6%

-44.8%

-53.9%

Source: FactSet

You can click on the tickers for more about each company, including news, profiles, price ratios, analysts’ price targets and financials.

Netflix earnings: Can the streaming giant clear a high bar of investor expectations for a change?

Here are the best performers among the Nasdaq-100 NDX, -0.30% since the end of 2018:

Company

Ticker

Price change – 2019

Price change – Q4, 2018

Price change – 2018

Price change – 2017

Decline from 52-week high

Celgene Corp.

CELG, +0.52%

36.4%

-28.4%

-38.6%

-9.8%

-18.5%

Netflix Inc.

NFLX, +3.98%

26.1%

-28.5%

39.4%

55.1%

-20.2%

MercadoLibre Inc.

MELI, +1.58%

17.8%

-14.0%

-6.9%

101.5%

-17.5%

Incyte Corp.

INCY, -0.63%

17.4%

-7.9%

-32.9%

-5.5%

-23.2%

Ulta Beauty Inc.

ULTA, +2.56%

16.0%

-13.2%

9.5%

-12.3%

-11.9%

Electronic Arts Inc.

EA, -0.34%

14.9%

-34.5%

-24.9%

33.4%

-40.0%

Wynn Resorts Ltd.

WYNN, +1.93%

14.8%

-22.2%

-41.3%

94.9%

-44.2%

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

ALXN, +0.18%

14.1%

-30.0%

-18.6%

-2.3%

-21.1%

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

VRTX, +1.14%

13.5%

-14.0%

10.6%

103.4%

-3.5%

Micron Technology Inc.

MU, +0.28%

13.5%

-29.8%

-22.8%

87.6%

-44.3%

Source: FactSet

Dow Jones Industrial Average

Here are all 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, sorted by how much their stocks have risen (or fallen) this year:

Company

Ticker

Price change – 2019

Price change – Q4, 2018

Price change – 2018

Price change – 2017

Decline from 52-week high

Boeing Co.

BA, +0.08%

9.4%

-13.3%

9.4%

89.4%

-10.5%

International Business Machines Corp.

IBM, -0.27%

6.9%

-24.8%

-25.9%

-7.6%

-29.0%

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

GS, +0.53%

5.9%

-25.5%

-34.4%

6.4%

-35.7%

Exxon Mobil Corp.

XOM, -0.46%

5.2%

-19.8%

-18.5%

-7.3%

-19.7%

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.

WBA, -1.06%

4.9%

-6.3%

-5.9%

-12.3%

-16.9%

Visa Inc. Class A

V, -0.44%

4.6%

-12.1%

15.7%

46.1%

-8.9%

Home Depot Inc.

HD, +0.20%

4.4%

-17.1%

-9.3%

41.4%

-16.7%

Intel Corp.

INTC, +0.76%

4.3%

-0.8%

1.7%

27.3%

-15.1%

Caterpillar Inc.

CAT, -0.65%

4.0%

-16.7%

-19.4%

69.9%

-23.7%

Chevron Corp.

CVX, -0.80%

3.4%

-11.0%

-13.1%

6.4%

-15.9%

American Express Co.

AXP, +0.30%

3.4%

-10.5%

-4.0%

34.1%

-14.0%

DowDuPont Inc.

DWDP, -0.72%

3.4%

-16.8%

-24.9%

24.5%

-28.3%

United Technologies Corp.

UTX, -0.42%

3.3%

-23.8%

-16.5%

16.4%

-23.7%

Verizon Communications Inc.

VZ, +0.73%

3.2%

5.3%

6.2%

-0.8%

-5.8%

Walt Disney Co.

DIS, -0.13%

2.7%

-6.2%

2.0%

3.2%

-6.3%

McDonald’s Corp.

MCD, +0.45%

2.7%

6.1%

3.2%

41.4%

-4.5%

Nike Inc. Class B

NKE, -0.50%

2.6%

-12.5%

18.5%

23.1%

-11.6%

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPM, -0.48%

2.3%

-13.5%

-8.7%

23.9%

-16.3%

Walmart Inc.

WMT, -0.13%

1.8%

-0.8%

-5.7%

42.9%

-13.8%

Microsoft Corp.

MSFT, -0.77%

1.2%

-11.2%

18.7%

37.7%

-11.5%

3M Co.

MMM, -0.72%

0.9%

-9.6%

-19.0%

31.8%

-26.0%

Travelers Cos.

TRV, +0.17%

0.6%

-7.7%

-11.7%

10.8%

-20.0%

Johnson & Johnson

JNJ, +0.03%

0.5%

-6.6%

-7.6%

21.3%

-12.9%

Cisco Systems Inc.

CSCO, +0.58%

0.4%

-10.9%

13.1%

26.7%

-12.1%

Coca-Cola Co.

KO, +0.57%

0.0%

2.5%

3.2%

10.7%

-6.9%

Procter & Gamble Co.

PG, +0.66%

-0.2%

10.4%

0.0%

9.3%

-5.3%

UnitedHealth Group Inc.

UNH, +1.14%

-0.6%

-6.4%

13.0%

37.8%

-14.0%

Pfizer Inc.

PFE, +1.35%

-1.8%

-1.0%

20.5%

11.5%

-7.7%

Merck & Co.

MRK, +0.56%

-2.0%

7.7%

35.8%

-4.4%

-6.6%

Apple Inc.

AAPL, -0.98%

-3.5%

-30.1%

-6.8%

46.1%

-34.8%

Apple AAPL, -0.98% has been the worst performer among the Dow 30 this year, following the dramatic lowering of the company’s sales estimates for the holiday quarter announced earlier in the month. But CEO Tim Cook remains “very optimistic” about the iPhone maker’s prospects.